Harlequin Superromance February 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: His Forever GirlMoonlight in ParisWife by Design

by Liz Talley

  Grant put the truck in gear and drove away.

  * * *

  “WHERE ARE WE going, Grant?” Darin was looking out his window, seemingly entranced by the freshly painted Cape Cod–style homes they were passing, all with professionally landscaped, though smaller, yards.

  The seventy-five-home neighborhood had been built with landscaping included.

  Grant knew. He’d won the bid for the landscaping.

  And they both knew the homes well. They were still in their neighborhood.

  “Where do you want to go?” Grant sidestepped his brother’s question a second time.

  He had a plan. Was taking control. Lynn had given them a problem and he’d deal with it. That was the way of his life.

  But Darin wasn’t going to know that.

  “I want to go to the beach,” Darin said. “I want to see the boats come in.”

  So they went. A couple of miles from their modest neighborhood was a public access area where they could sit and watch the fishing boats come into Santa Raquel’s very small, noncommercial pier.

  In the distance, an occasional cruise ship traveling up the coast from San Diego or L.A. might appear, riding out the ocean’s waves. Some yachts. Or commercial fishing boats that were headed to other ports.

  “I want to dive again.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, Grant, I do.”

  He took a deep breath and pinched the skin on his nose, though he had no idea what that was supposed to do. It didn’t relieve any tension.

  “What about your arm?”

  “It’s getting better.”

  “Then when it does, we’ll talk about this again.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it again.” Darin’s focus didn’t leave the ocean. “I want to dive again.”

  The words “What if your arm doesn’t get better?” were on the tip of his tongue. They would probably end the conversation. And there was a chance Darin would never bring diving up again.

  But Grant studied Darin and bit the words right off his tongue. He couldn’t lock Darin up any further than the injury his brother had sustained attempting to save a life had already done.

  “Until my arm is better, I’d have to stay shallow.”

  Grant didn’t know what to say.

  And Darin turned to look at him. “I can’t go alone, Grant. I’d need you to go with me.”

  Darin was completely, one-hundred-percent serious.

  And so Grant did the only thing he could do. He said, “Okay.” And promised to make the plans.

  * * *

  “HEY, LYNNIE.”

  She’d known it was Brandon before she’d picked up the call, but the sound of his voice, using his pet name for her, still shot sharply through her.

  “Hi, what’s up?” She didn’t feel like his “Lynnie” anymore.

  “I got a favor to ask.” He sounded hesitant. And her heart reached out to him. Because it always had.

  And, she’d come to realize, it always would. She didn’t stop loving someone just because he had a biological predilection that couldn’t be helped.

  “What favor?”

  Walking by the door to Kara’s bedroom, she peeked in at the exhausted little girl sleeping in her princess bed—a white wooden bed with a canopy on top that Brandon had spent a couple of hours putting together for her the previous summer, when they’d thrown a moving-into-a-big-bed ceremony.

  Just the three of them.

  As if they were a family again.

  “It’s a big favor.” Brandon wasn’t getting right to the point, which didn’t bode well.

  She and Maddie had worn Kara out at the mall. Lynn had made macaroni and cheese with peas in it for dinner when they got home and Kara had fallen asleep at the table.

  “You sound tired. What’s going on?” she asked him.

  It was only eight-thirty. The evening stretched ahead of her.

  Without turning on any lights, she settled on the sectional in the great room, looking out the sliding glass door to the garden beyond.

  It needed more landscape lighting.

  And she knew someone who did that sort of thing....

  “Douglas was in a car accident this morning. Some guy was drunk and ran a red light.”

  She sat up. “Oh, my gosh, Bran, I’m so sorry!” And then, more slowly, “Is he okay?”

  “He’s going to be. He’s got a couple of broken bones, some stitches and lots of bruising, but if he does well tonight, I’ll be able to bring him home in the morning.”

  “Good, so that means no internal injuries.”

  “Surprisingly not. He wasn’t going that fast and had his seat belt on. Also he was hit broadside on the passenger’s side of the car.”

  “Thank goodness for that. Is he fully conscious? Have you been able to talk to him?”

  “Yeah, he just ate a good dinner. I’m staying here with him tonight.”

  “You’re at the hospital?”

  “Yeah. He’s resting and I needed to call you....”

  She pictured the slim man her husband had moved in with after he and Lynn had divorced. This past year, when California’s ban on gay marriage had been lifted again, they’d gotten married.

  Douglas was sweet. Gentle. Well dressed, quiet spoken. And a successful stockbroker. He’d always been kind to her and respectful of her place in Brandon’s life. Not just as the mother of his child, but as his best friend, too.

  “What can I do?”

  “I want to bring Kara here for the weekend.”

  Her heart lurched. He had every legal right to do so. By law, Brandon had Kara every other weekend and one night during the week. Except that he’d moved upstate to San Francisco and the midweek arrangement hadn’t worked after that.

  He’d never missed one of his weekends with Kara. Every other Saturday he flew down, either with Douglas or alone, and spent the day with her.

  Because that’s how Lynn had wanted it. Brandon here in Santa Raquel, not Kara up in San Francisco.

  She wanted to say no to his favor. To scream it at him.

  But Brandon was Kara’s father. And a great dad.

  He was also still a loyal and true friend to her.

  “I’ll see what I can arrange here to be able to get away and fly with her.” Kara had never spent the night at her father’s house.

  Lynn had never spent the night without her little girl.

  “I’ll fly down to get her,” Brandon said. “I’m not going to put you out, Lynnie. Douglas’s mom is going to stay with him Saturday morning and again Sunday afternoon while I get her back to you. She’d stay with him all weekend, if we needed her to, but I don’t want to leave him. And he misses Kara. He didn’t get to see her last time.”

  “And it’s time that you have her in your home some, too.”

  “We’ve had a room ready for her since we bought this place,” he reminded her.

  “I know.”

  “I bought the same exact bed she has at home.”

  “I remember.”

  “It’ll just be for one night.”

  “I’ll be fine, Bran. I’m not a piece of china, you know.”

  “You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever known, Lynnie. You’ve got way more backbone than I do.”

  “That’s utter nonsense.”

  “I just hate hurting you and it seems like that’s all I do anymore. I miss the days when I was a blessing in your life.”

  She wasn’t going to cry. It was just allergies.

  “You’re still a blessing in my life,” she told him. And meant it. The world would be a darker place if Brandon wasn’t out there.

  “If I’d known I was gay, I’d never have asked you to m
arry me,” he told her, something he’d said many times before.

  “I know.”

  “I feel so responsible. So guilty and stupid for not recognizing...”

  She didn’t blame Brandon. Or herself, either. Logically, medically, she understood that he couldn’t help being attracted to men. And in her heart of hearts, she still felt shocked and betrayed.

  Not because Brandon was gay. But because she’d thought she’d known him so completely...had trusted that she knew him as well as she knew herself...because she’d trusted that he’d always be faithful to her. Always want her.

  Because he’d been her husband and he’d left her.

  “Tell Douglas I said hello,” she said, keeping her voice light in spite of the heaviness inside her. “And that I’m glad he’s okay.”

  “That will mean a lot to him.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I know you do.”

  “Okay, well, call me as soon as you have your flights arranged.”

  “I will. Good night, Lynnie.”

  “’Night.”

  She’d pulled the phone away from her ear, looking for the end call button in the darkness when she heard, “I love you.”

  She pushed to end the call.

  * * *

  “ARE WE GOING home now?” Darin asked once the brothers were back in Grant’s truck after sharing a steak dinner at their favorite place on the main strip in town by the beach. “You missed our turn,” the forty-four-year-old man-child continued, swiveling in his seat to look at the intersection they’d just passed.

  He’d talked about diving during dinner. And burped so loudly that the people a few tables over had turned to look at them.

  He’d flirted with their waitress, who’d flirted right back. Grant was pretty sure the girl had no idea there was anything wrong with his older brother. She’d been absent for the belch.

  And he’d talked about Luke and Craig letting him help put pieces of plastic tubing together that day.

  “We aren’t going home,” Grant said now. He had no idea how this next part was going to go, but he was determined that it would.

  Every problem had a solution.

  “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “It’s not my birthday.”

  “You like surprises.”

  “Yep.”

  Grinning, Darin crossed his arms and looked out the window.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  HE’D NEVER ACTUALLY been to the place before. But he knew exactly which exit to take off Highway 101 to get where they were going.

  Guys knew these things. Or at least he did. He supposed most guys did. At the moment, he wasn’t sure. He was having doubts. Because, personally, he didn’t want to spend the evening ahead as he’d planned.

  He wasn’t changing his mind.

  Arms tense, he pulled into the crowded parking lot, hoping his brother either didn’t recognize the place, didn’t know what it was or wasn’t paying attention.

  “Coastal Flame.” Darin read the sign like a first grader in reading class.

  And then he started to laugh. Hand over his mouth, he guffawed. “You made a mistake, Grant! Look where you brought us!”

  Grant wasn’t laughing. He parked in the back, the only empty spaces he could find. He walked around and opened Darin’s door. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  “Go?” Frowning, Darin eyed the huge pink building. “We’re going in there?”

  “Yep.” Grant yanked at his brother’s sleeve and then, when Darin still didn’t move, undid his seat belt, grabbed his right wrist and pulled.

  Darin didn’t resist. He got out of the truck. And stood there, letting Grant close his door for him. “Are you sure about this?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  Standing there, looking like the most successful gentleman at the gentlemen’s club, Darin frowned. “I don’t think they’ll want me in there.”

  “You’re a man and you have cash. They’ll want you.”

  “But...”

  “You’ll do fine, bro,” Grant said. He would have liked to remind his brother of a bachelor party outing, or any other time the two of them had been to a strip joint together, but there hadn’t been any other time.

  With a hand on Darin’s elbow, he escorted his brother toward the front of the busy establishment. It was packed. On a Monday night, no less.

  “Do you know what this place is?” Darin leaned over and whispered. Loudly. As soon as they stepped inside.

  “Yes.” He was heading toward the pay booth.

  Darin shook his head, pulled his elbow out of Grant’s grasp and made a beeline past the guy who checked IDs of anyone who looked underage, right by the bouncer who looked surprised and straight back out the door they’d just come through.

  Not a good start. At a trot, he followed his brother, ignoring the checker’s curious stare and the bouncer’s frown.

  “Darin.”

  The taller man was heading straight toward the truck with a purposeful stride.

  In the parking lot, a couple of gentlemen, dressed in suits, headed toward the door, but turned to watch Grant chasing Darin.

  “Darin,” he said again, firmly, but quietly, too.

  Halfway to the back of the parking lot, Darin stopped. With both feet firmly planted he turned to face Grant.

  “I am not going back in there.”

  “Come on, bro. It’ll be good for us.” For him.

  “Good, how?” The raised eyebrow was classic Darin. A look that would have cowed Grant in the old days. The tone of voice was petulant.

  “There are pretty girls in there, Darin. We can look at them all we want. And there’s more. I was going to ask one of the girls to dance just for you.”

  A private lap dance. He knew what they were. How to procure one. They were perfectly legal.

  The thought sickened him. But they were legal.

  And could take care of Darin’s need to have some intimate contact with a female without being exposed to disease or prostitution.

  Or attempting to get it from Maddie.

  It was the perfect solution.

  “It’s a strip club, Grant.”

  He knew that.

  More slowly, Darin headed toward the car. Grant kept pace with him.

  “I’m surprised at you.” There was no petulance in Darin’s tone now. But there was something else there that Grant recognized only too well.

  His big brother’s disappointment.

  * * *

  TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY passed peacefully. There were no new residents. No emergency calls, just well checks. She only had two pregnancies to follow at the moment and both of them were progressing normally and nowhere close to delivery. She’d caught up on her charting. Administered allergy shots. Distributed meds to residents who couldn’t be trusted to keep them in their bungalows.

  And between her, Sara, Lila, Angelica and Grant, they’d managed to allow Darin and Maddie to take morning therapy together, to see each other on campus a time or two, without ever giving them a second alone.

  Sara was hopeful the time together would be enough to get Maddie through her adjustment period. And it appeared another storm had passed.

  But with each day that passed, the weekend loomed closer.

  Or, to be more precise, Saturday night—and Kara’s trip to San Francisco.

  On her way home from work on Wednesday evening, she saw Grant off in the distance, bent over a mound of dirt and stone in the area where the rock fountain was taking shape. She saw him because she’d specifically gone that way hoping to see him.

  She called out.

  He looked up.

  She waved.
/>   He waved back.

  And for one split crazy second she entertained the idea of asking him to spend the night with her Saturday night.

  She wanted an adult sleepover. Just the two of them. The kind where the adults didn’t sleep.

  * * *

  MADDIE WAS STILL at Lynn’s place when Lynn came out from putting Kara to bed after eight on Wednesday evening.

  “I thought you had arts and crafts tonight,” Lynn said. A volunteer was coming in to teach the women how to make reindeer Christmas ornaments to sell at the secondhand goods and craft boutique The Lemonade Stand owned a block up from the shelter.

  Maddie shook her head. Sniffled.

  And that was when Lynn realized that Maddie was crying.

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she said, placing a hand on Maddie’s hunched-over back as she sat down next to her.

  Maddie got agitated. Nervous. Panicky. Scared to death. Worried. And ecstatic, too. She almost never cried.

  “He doesn’t like me.”

  “Who doesn’t like you?” she asked, but she already knew. Obviously something had happened between her and Darin.

  “Daarrriiinnn.” The pretty blonde sounded as though her heart had been broken into a million pieces.

  But maybe this was good. Broken hearts mended and Maddie could move on past the relationship stage of her recovery.

  “Of course he likes you,” she said, because what else could she say?

  Maddie shook her head and looked at Lynn with big watery eyes that were red and swollen. Maddie must have been crying the entire time Lynn had been bathing Kara, getting her in her jammies and reading to her. “He doesn’t like me, Lynn.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I told him I liked him and then he stopped waiting for me.”

  “You told him you liked him?”

  “Yes. Because I do and you tell me I just have to be honest and so I was.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He s-s-said he l-l-liked me, t-t-tooooo.” The last word broke off on a wail followed by another bout of tears.

  “He did.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, there you go, then. He does like you.”

  “I think you should tell him about always telling the truth.”